CITY OF REVERE OPEN SPACE AND RECREATION PLAN 2010 - 2017 ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This plan was prepared for the City of Revere by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC). It was funded under a grant provided by the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. City of Revere Thomas G. Ambrosino Mayor Paul Argenzio Department of Public Works Andy DeSantis Chairman, Conservation Commission Adrienne Sacco-Maguire Recreation Director Frank Stringi Community Development Director Cindy Tatelman Commission on Disabilities MAPC Officers President: Jay Ash Vice President: Michelle Ciccolo Secretary: Marilyn Contreas Treasurer: Grace S. Shepard MAPC Executive Director: Marc D. Draisen Project Manager: Joan Blaustein Mapping: Susan Brunton November 10, 2010 iii iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Section I Plan Summary 1 Section II Introduction 3 Section III Community Setting 7 Section IV Environmental Inventory and Analysis 29 Section V Inventory of Lands of Conservation and Recreation Interest 39 Section VI Community Vision 57 Section VII Analysis of Needs 59 Section VIII Goals and Objectives 67 Section IX Seven-Year Action Plan 69 Section X Implementation 81 Section XI Public Comments 85 Section XII References 87 Appendix A Public Meeting Flyers Appendix B Comments from the March 18, 2010 Public Meeting Appendix C Section 504 Self-Evaluation Appendix D Maps 1 Regional Context 2 Environmental Justice Populations 3 Census Tract 4 Zoning 5 Soils and Geologic Features 6 Unique Features 7 Water Resources 8 Open Space and Recreation Inventory 9 Seven Year Action Plan v LIST OF TABLES Table Title Page 1 Meetings 4 2 Total Population 12 3 Age Distribution: 2000 and 20006-2008 13 4 Household Characteristics 14 5 Environmental Justice Demographics 15 6 Language Spoken at Home 15 7 Population Density 16 8 Population Projections for Current Trends and MetroFuture 17 9 Population Projections by Age Group: 2010-2030 18 10 Percent of Total Employment by Industry 19 11 2008 Average Employment and Wages by Industry 19 12 Major Employers in Revere 21 13 Housing Units: 2006-2008 21 14 Housing Tenure 22 15 Age of the Housing Stock 22 16 Zoning Districts 25 17 Current Subdivision Activity 2009-2010 26 18 New Residential Dwelling Units 2004-2008 27 19 Buildout Impacts 28 20 Rare, Threatened and Endangered Species 34 21 Chapter 91 Licenses 42 22 Inventory of Conservation and Recreation Facilities 45 23 Accomplishments from the 2001 Open Space and Recreation Plan 69 24 Seven-Year Action Plan 73 vi SECTION I – PLAN SUMMARY STATEMENT OF PURPOSE The purpose of the 2010-2017 Open Space and Recreation Plan is to provide the City of Revere with a blueprint for ensuring that current and future residents of the city have ample opportunities for recreation and access to open space despite financial constraints, dense development and changing demographics. COMMUNITY GOALS The City of Revere has developed six goals on which the open space and recreation plan is based. Goal #1: Provide recreational opportunities for residents of all ages and abilities. Goal #2: Protect and preserve Revere’s natural resources. Goal #3: Develop facilities and programs that promote fitness and health. Goal #4: Improve stewardship of the parks. Goal #5: Develop partnerships and engage in regional collaboration to maximize limited resources and develop regional open spaces. Goal #6: Ensure that the plan takes into account environmental justice and equity. 1 [This page intentionally left blank] 2 SECTION II- INTRODUCTION A. STATEMENT OF PURPOSE The purpose of the 2010-2017 Open Space and Recreation Plan is to provide the City of Revere with a blueprint for ensuring that current and future residents of the city have ample opportunities for recreation and access to open space despite financial constraints, dense development and changing demographics. Because of these challenges, the plan is based on a careful analysis of the City’s remaining open land as well as redevelopment opportunities and also considers open space and recreation from the perspective of environmental justice and equity. This reflects a new policy direction of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The plan approaches open space and recreation from two equally important perspectives. The first perspective is that of the needs of families for active recreation for their children and themselves. The second perspective is the historical and ecological significance of Revere as home to the first public beach in the United States as well as home to significant coastal resources. The plan is comprehensive in its approach and tries to balance the needs of the community against the fiscal reality of limited funds. The Metropolitan Area Planning Council prepared the plan under the direction of the Community Development Department. B. ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE AND EQUITY Since 2002, EOEEA has been implementing an Environmental Justice Policy to help ensure that all Massachusetts residents experience equal protection and meaningful involvement with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies and the equitable distribution of environmental benefits. This policy was instituted recognizing that communities across the Commonwealth, particularly those densely populated urban neighborhoods in and around the state’s older industrial areas, are facing many environmental challenges associated with Massachusetts’ industrial legacy. Residents in these predominantly low-income and minority communities – nearly 29% of the state population – lack open space and recreational resources and often live side-by-side numerous existing large and small sources of pollution and old abandoned, contaminated sites, which can pose risks to public health and the environment. Critical to advancing environmental justice (EJ) in the Commonwealth is the equitable distribution of environmental assets such as parks, open space, and recreation. Toward this end, and where applicable, municipalities shall identify and prioritize open space sites in their Open Space and Recreation Plans that are socially, recreationally, and ecologically important to EJ populations within the community. 3 C. PLANNING PROCESS AND PUBLIC PARTICIPATION MAPC prepared this plan under the direction of the Revere Community Development Department. The project was funded by a state grant to the City of Revere from the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. MAPC held a series of meetings with various city departments as well as local community organizations. These meetings are listed in Table 1 below. MAPC worked with the City to develop a scope of work that met the state guidelines and was responsive to the city’s needs. During this phase, MAPC and the city decided not to conduct a formal city-wide survey. This decision was based on balancing the cost of developing and distributing a survey against the usual rate of return. The City felt that consultation with the relevant city departments, boards and local organizations as well as input received during public meetings would provide sufficient input into local needs. Table 1 Meetings Person/Organization Date Frank Stringi, Community Development Director Sept. 3, 2009 Cindy Tatelman, Commission on Disabilities October 5, 2009 Paul Argenzio, Department of Public Works October 19, 2009 Adrienne Sacco-Maguire, Recreation Director October 19, 2009 Kitty Bowman, Revere Cares October 19, 2009 Sylvia Chiang, Revere Cares October 19, 2009 Frank Stringi, Community Development Director November 5, 2009 Revere Cares Food and Fitness Task Force November 5, 2009 Kathleen McCabe, McCabe Enterprises February 5, 2010 Andy DeSantis, Conservation Commission February 25, 2010 Frank Stringi, Community Development Director February 25, 2010 Enhanced Outreach and Public Participation The state considers a community to be an environmental justice community if it meets one or more of the following criteria: 25% of the households earn 65% or less of the statewide household median income; or 25% or more of the residents are minority; or 25% or more of the residents are foreign- born; or 25% or more of the residents are lacking English language proficiency. This is based on the 2000 Census block data. Revere meets all four of the criteria. Environmental justice is addressed throughout the plan. 4 The public meeting for input to the plan was held at the Revere Police Station community room on March 18, 2010. The meeting was publicized with a notice in the local newspaper, posted in City Hall and on the city’s web page. In consultation with the Mayor and the Community Development Director, an environmental justice outreach strategy was developed. A flyer announcing the meeting was developed and was translated into Spanish, Arabic, French (for the Haitian population) and Khymer for the Cambodian population. The Spanish version of the flyer was distributed at the Immaculate Conception Church at 133 Beach Street which has several Spanish Masses weekly. The flyers were also posted in local businesses. A copy of these flyers can be found in Appendix A. The plan was presented to the Revere City Council on June 7, 2010. The City Council voted to adopt the 2010-2017 Open Space and Recreation Plan. 5 [This page intentionally left blank] 6 SECTION III- COMMUNITY SETTING A. REGIONAL CONTEXT 1. Overview of Regional Context – The City of Revere is situated in eastern Massachusetts (Suffolk County) and is bordered by Winthrop, East Boston and Chelsea to the south, Everett and Malden to the west, Saugus and Lynn to